[UPDATED] Johor polls: Pakatan clinches both Simpang Jeram, Pulai

JOHOR BARU – Pakatan Harapan (PH) retained the Simpang Jeram seat with Nazri Abdul Rahman polling 13,884 votes, followed by Dr Mohd Mazri Yahya from Perikatan Nasional (PN) with 10,330. 

Independent S. Jeganathan managed 311 votes.

This was after all 69 ballot boxes were counted, giving PH a majority of 3,514 votes.

A total 24,485 votes (60.85%) were cast, while there were 74 rejected votes and 12 unreturned ballots.

In Pulai, PH’s Suhaizan Kaiat won with 48,283 votes, while Zulkifli Jaafar of PN had 29,642 votes. Independent candidate Samsudin Mohamad Fauzi had 528 votes.

PH won by an 18,641 majority.

All 298 ballot boxes were counted as of 10pm.

This is despite recording the worst voter turnout in the country’s electoral history.

Election Commission chairman Tan Sri Abdul Ghani Salleh had earlier said the unofficial voter turnout for the by-elections as of 6pm was reported at 46.8% for Pulai and 60.2% for Simpang Jeram.

Ghani said unfavourable weather conditions were to blame for the voter turnout, preventing a number of voters from making their way to the polling stations.

There were a total 47 polling centres, with 294 streams in the Pulai parliamentary constituency, while the Simpang Jeram state seat had 14 centres with 68 streams.

Pulai has 166,653 registered voters, while there are 40,488 registered voters in Simpang Jeram. 

The two by-elections were held following Amanah deputy president Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub’s death on July 23.

Salahuddin had won Pulai with a majority of 33,174 votes and Simpang Jeram with a 2,399-vote majority. – The Vibes, September 9, 2023